


Soulmates? Really?

by whiteraven1606



Series: Soulmates [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: First Time, M/M, Soulmates, Teamwork, Telepathic Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:24:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil gets a headache. Loki gets smashed by the Hulk, again. Steve...well, Steve gets a gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soulmates? Really?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Avengersfest on LJ for Arisu_wa_doko.

****

Phil Coulson followed Captain America as he half carried Bruce Banner into the Avengers Tower from the Hulk transport. At least Loki had been captured again. That would be Phil's next stop as soon as he knew if Stark could get the bracelet off of Bruce's wrist.

He hadn't seen it, but he listened to Hawkeye report on it as they came back to the Tower. Loki had thrown the thing at the Hulk and it seemed alive as it curled itself around the Hulk's wrist. Hulk hadn't been pleased and Loki hadn't been fast enough to get away.

Phil didn't need to hurry to get around to Loki since Thor didn't think Loki would be awake for another half a day at least. Captain Rogers settled Bruce on one of the couches in Stark's living room.

"Do you think the bracelet will get bigger with him if he transforms again?"

Phil eased Dr. Banner's arm over and looked for a seam on the offending bracelet. "I have no idea. Hopefully we won't have to find out."

Stark came from his de-armoring walkway. "It didn't fall off?"

Phil pulled on a pair of gloves and poked at the bracelet. "No. It reduced size in conjunction with Dr. Banner."

Stark pushed his way into the group and tucked a finger under the bracelet, giving it a small tug. "No seams. Feels colder than it should be."

Captain Rogers grabbed Stark's wrist. "Tony, you probably shouldn't touch it with bare hands." He nodded towards Phil's gloves.

Phil stripped off his gloves and moved to make a phone call to see if Clint or Natasha could ask Thor if he knew what to do go get the bracelet off.

"Ooooh." Bruce sat up and wrinkled his nose at the bracelet. "What is this? What happened?"

Stark pulled a little harder on the bracelet. "Loki throw it at you and the Big Guy couldn't get it off."

Bruce looked worried. "Do we know what it is for?"

Phil snapped his phone closed and came back over. "Thor doesn't recognize the description. He'll come give it a look once Loki's stable enough for chains and Thor's hammer to hold him."

Bruce rubbed at his hair. "Stable? What happened to Loki?"

Stark grinned. "You did."

Phil kept himself from frowning at Stark with an effort. "What he means is that the Hulk took exception to not being able to remove the bracelet and he took his frustration out on Loki."

Bruce covered his face with his hand. "How bad is it?"

Phil pulled his gloves back on and rotated the bracelet around Bruce's wrist. "We do not know what this is for. The property damage from the fight is minimal."

"Half a block of abandoned apartment buildings, no injuries other than Loki himself." Captain Rogers frowned at the bracelet. "We could try cutting it off."

Stark leaned in closer and then stood up with a grin. "I'll got get one of the small laser cutters." He headed out of the room.

Bruce bit his lip and then laughed. "Is it bad that I'm more worried about Tony's smile than about getting this off?"

Captain Rogers clapped Bruce on the shoulder. "Not at all, Doc." He poked at the bracelet with his gloved finger as Phil started to turn it. "It doesn't seem to..."

Light emitted from the bracelet and then Phil was staring up at the ceiling. _What happened?_

"I don't know." Captain Rogers' voice was coming from across the room.

"You don't know what?" Bruce's face appeared above Phil. "Are you alright?"

 _I hope he's alright. It was probably my fault for touching the thing._ Phil frowned at that thought which he knew wasn't his and blinked. "I'm fine. It isn't your fault, Captain."

Bruce looked from one to the other of them with his eyebrows raised. "Why do I feel like I'm only hearing half the conversation?"

Phil sat up and looked at Captain Rogers. "Captain Rogers..." _I really wish he would call me Steve._ "What?"

Captain Rog...Steve blinked and moved over to them. "What?"

Phil narrowed his eyes. _Were you just thinking that I should call you Steve?_

Steve's eyes widened. "You weren't talking!"

Phil rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "No, I wasn't." He turned towards Bruce. "You aren't hearing our thoughts, are you?"

Bruce looked between them. "No, I..." He looked down at the bracelet, which was a different color. "Okay, that's just weird."

Tony came from his elevator. "I got it...What did I miss?"

****

Thor ran a fingertip over the bracelet. "I fear I do not know what this is for."

Bruce shook his head. "That's okay, Thor. We were just hoping. It doesn't seem to be affecting me, but it has made Coulson and Steve hear each others' thoughts."

Thor frowned. "I will await Loki's return to wakefulness. He will answer for this loss of privacy he has inflicted upon you both."

Phil nodded and tried not to flinch when Thor clapped him on the shoulder as he left. Steve was focused on drawing something in his sketchbook. Phil was only getting the vaguest thoughts of shading and lines from him. Phil stood up. "I have reports to complete. Let me know if you have any luck with removing the bracelet from Doctor Banner."

Tony waved a hand absently from where he was working with a model of the bracelet.

Phil took the elevator and made it to the lobby when he started to feel odd. He paused outside of the elevator as Clint came in from the street. 

"Hey, Phil." Clint approached and frowned at him. "You okay?"

 _Something is wrong._ Phil put a hand to the side of his head where he was starting to get a headache. "I'm..." He grimaced as a sharp pain went through his skull. "I..."

Clint caught him under the elbow. "Phil?"

 _We must be too far apart._ Phil knew that hadn't been his thought, but it echoed his own ideas on what was happening. He forced himself to stay upright and tried to turn back to the elevator. "I need..."

Clint moved with him. "Maybe we need to get you sat down, sir."

"Steve." Phil got as far as trying to read the buttons on the elevator when his world went dark.

****

Bruce grimaced as the bracelet went cold. "Shit." He started to turn to ask Tony what the readings were saying when Steve fell forward out of his seat, clutching his head. It only took Bruce a moment to work it out. "JARIVS, get Phil back up here. Now!"

"Right away, Doctor."

Bruce forced himself to move through the pain from the coldness of the bracelet. He caught Steve and eased him back onto the nearest couch. "Sit down. Phil's coming back."

Steve clutched at him. "Phil."

Tony appeared at Bruce's shoulder and helped get Steve further onto the couch. "Just hold on, Cap. He'll be here in a minute."

The elevator whooshed open and Clint came out supporting Phil.

"What is going on?" Clint paused as Tony slipped under Phil's other shoulder and they both brought him over to the couch. As soon as they settled him down beside Steve, Bruce could feel a difference in the temperature of the bracelet.

Tony shrugged. "We seem to be having problems with Loki's present to the Hulk."

Clint touched the bracelet. "Wow. That's cold."

Bruce nodded. "It is warming back up now, though."

Phil blinked his eyes open. "Ouch."

Bruce patted him on the forearm. "Feel any better?"

Phil rubbed his temple. "Now is better than the lobby was. Steve?"

"He was affected too. He's coming back around now."

****

Steve could feel his head fighting to heal itself. It was the oddest feeling he'd experienced so far since waking up in the future. "I'm alright."

Bruce frowned at him. "You both passed out."

Steve could hear the list of reports Phil was mentally compiling to fill out when he could. "We have a distance limit then."

Tony patted him on the shoulder. "We'll fix it."

Steve wasn't sure he wanted it fixed. He tried not to blush at Phil's surprise. "I know you'll think of something, Tony." He leaned against Phil and that felt better. He nudged on Phil's arm. _Lift up so I can put my arm under you._

Phil looked confused for a moment and then he shifted so Steve could slip his arm under Phil's neck and shoulders.

 _Thanks. That's better._ Steve pointed at Bruce's wrist with his free hand. "Do it hurt you?"

Bruce covered his wrist with his other hand. "It got very cold."

Tony pulled on the bracelet to look at the skin underneath. It was blue-black. "Shit."

"It isn't hurting." Bruce frowned at it.

Steve could hear Phil's worry meshing with his own concern. "Maybe you'd better transform until we get it off you. I don't want you losing skin."

Bruce bit his lip.

Tony snapped his fingers. "That's prefect. Hulk can handle things you can't, Bruce. I might be able to get it off faster."

****

Phil smiled tiredly at the Hulk. "Mr. Hulk."

Hulk looked at him from where he was sitting in the middle of Tony's living room. "Friend Agent."

Phil mentally rolled his eyes and smiled at the feel of Steve laughing in his head. "Thank you for letting us try this."

Hulk huffed. "Metalhead fix Puny God's puny toy?"

Tony looked up from where he was slipping a spare section of his armor between the bracelet and the Hulk's skin. "I'm going to try, Big Guy. You okay?"

Hulk touched Steve's foot with his toe. "Hulk okay. Star Man okay?"

"What?" Steve looked around at them. "Who...you mean me?"

Hulk smiled, showing his teeth as he touched his own chest. "Star."

"Oh." Steve nodded. "Yes, I'm fine."

Phil could hear Steve's embarrassed thoughts about being too slow run through his head. _You can't except to know what he means instantly. This is the most anyone has ever heard the Hulk speak._

Steve glanced at Phil and then smiled at Hulk. "Thank you for giving me a decent nickname."

Hulk smiled and pointed at Clint sitting near the bar. "Cupid."

Clint smirked. "Really? Right now I think you're the cupid." He waved a hand between Phil and Steve.

Hulk cocked his head. He pushed on the armor until it went where Tony had been struggling to get it to go. "Star Man and Friend Agent happy?"

Phil could feel the twin feelings of surprise and then Steve's bullet fast thoughts on if it was something to be happy about and what that meant. "Yes, Hulk. We are happy."

Steve nodded. _I don't know how..._

Phil leaned more into Steve's side. _No one knows how their first time. Learning is part of the fun._ He thought about what he'd like to do with Steve and smiled softly as Steve looked amazed.

 _Not just...sex?_ Steve's arm around him tightened. "Yes, we're happy, Hulk."

Phil let his eyes close on Hulk smiling widely at them. _Of course not just sex. I want to spend time with you._ Steve's thumb started to circle on the side of Phil's arm. Phil could hear the jumble of thoughts tumbling around in Steve's head. _Sex would be nice too, though._

"Oh." Steve's body started giving off more heat.

Phil cracked his eyes open to see Steve fighting a blush.

Hulk tensed as Tony started to try cutting the bracelet.

"You tell me if I start hurting you, okay, Big Guy?"

Hulk grunted and held still.

Phil couldn't see Tony's eyes because of the safety googles, but he could tell it wasn't going well from the deepening frown.

Hulk snorted, grimaced, and then put his other hand on his elbow.

Tony pulled back. "You need me to stop?"

Hulk flexed the fingers of the hand they were working on. "Hulk okay."

"Alright." Tony started again. "It isn't healing up, so eventually I'll get through it."

****

Phil fell asleep sometime in the middle of the second pause in cutting. Steve could tell it wasn't fake because he could feel Phil's dreams. Clint came to sit next to him as Tony started working on the cut again.

"You okay, Cap?"

Steve patted Phil's arm as Clint's voice shifted the dream Phil was having. "I'm fine, Clint. He is alright too."

Clint nodded. "I just...worry. Phil was really concerned that you wouldn't survive being thawed out. Then he worried about you holing up and not really doing much until...well, he nearly died."

Steve nodded and kept watch on the Hulk's expression as Tony kept cutting. "He was right to worry. I was hiding."

Clint put his feet on the Hulk's closer knee as Hulk wrinkled his nose. "There was a lot of change in the time you were down."

"Yes." Steve shifted so he could add a foot to Hulk's knee. Hulk smiled at them and huffed again. "You need to stop, Hulk?"

Hulk frowned. "No."

Tony stopped and pulled away. "You sound like you need to stop. Don't lie, Bruce."

Hulk snorted. "Not puny Bruce."

Tony pushed the safety googles back up on his head to glare up at the Hulk. "Oh, don't bullshit me. You and I both know you are Bruce. You'd never met me before you caught me falling from Loki's portal, so don't tell me that you two are completely separate."

Steve started to ease his arm out from under Phil. His shield was under the foot not on the Hulk's knee. "Tony..." Steve could feel Phil come awake and he gripped Phil's arm to keep him still.

Hulk leaned down and glared back at Tony. "Puny Bruce stupid. Hulk not stupid."

Clint grabbed at Hulk's hand where it was curling up into a fist. "What do you mean? Bruce is pretty smart. Just like you."

Hulk frowned down at them and shook his head. "Stupid, puny Bruce. Hulk know this."

Tony exchanged looks with them. "Who told you that?"

With a slow blink, Hulk straightened up and ran a thumb over Clint and Steve's feet on his knee. "Puny Bruce Father say so."

Tony frowned. "Bruce's father? He couldn't have talked to you, Hulk. You weren't around yet."

Hulk shrugged. "Tell Puny Bruce all truth."

Phil nudged Hulk's thigh with his toes. "What all did this man say, Mr. Hulk?"

Steve could feel Phil's disgust grow as Hulk listed all the things Bruce's father had called Bruce. His own anger was building and Steve would have given a lot to be able to go back in time to give that man a good talking to.

Hulk lowered his chin to his chest as he finished with, "...monster."

Tony stroked Hulk's forearm. "Hey, Bruce isn't a monster. You aren't a monster, Hulk." He patted Hulk. "Bruce's father was the puny one, okay?"

"Puny?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Trust me, I would know." He lifted the laser cutter. "Ready to go again? We're almost through."

Hulk sighed and nodded.

****

Phil stood staring down at Loki, chained to his bed with Thor's hammer holding down the chains. "I have a question."

Loki blinked at the ceiling. "What makes you think I would answer?"

"You're bored." Phil moved to Loki's side and offered him a drink of water. "Hulk broke most of the bones in your body. If Thor thought you could have survived the trip he would have taken you back to Asgard."

Loki made a disgusted expression. "Thor..." He stopped. "What was your question?"

Phil kept the smile he wanted to make off his face. "Why did you throw that device at the Hulk and not someone else?"

"It was meant to affect the beast and his soulmate." Loki closed his eyes. "It apparently malfunctioned."

Phil could feel Steve's astonishment in the back of his mind. "Is that so?"

Loki sighed. "The beast's soulmate is no longer near him. He should have dropped from the distance between them."

"Ah." Phil nodded. "Only the Hulk and his soulmate?"

"Soulmates within range would be affected, of course."

"Of course." Phil sat the water back down. "I would advise not pissing off the Hulk in the future. I would think that you could figure that out without being beaten to a pulp more than once." He moved towards the door. "I will have to revise my estimate of your intelligence downwards."

Phil could feel Steve's amusement at the expression Loki was making as he left.

****

Bruce frowned. "Why would he think the other guy would have a soulmate?"

Thor slapped Bruce on the back. "Everyone has another soul that speaks to them."

Steve moved over so Phil could sit between him and Clint. "Why wasn't the Hulk affected like Loki thought he would be?"

Tony settled across from them. "Maybe because Hulk's soulmate wasn't too far away." They all turned to look at him. 

Natasha leaned forward and put her forearms on the table. "You think Bruce has two soulmates? One for the Hulk and one for him?"

"No." Tony glanced around at them. "Uh, more like Bruce doesn't realize he can have a soulmate, so he's not getting anything like Steve and Phil are. I think it didn't kick clear in until Bruce transformed for us to cut off the bracelet."

Steve looked from Tony to Bruce and back. He touched Phil's shoulder. "Tony, are you hearing Bruce's thoughts?"

Bruce turned his head to stare at Tony.

****

Phil snuggled down next to Steve in the man's bed. "Are you alright with this?"

Steve ran gentle fingertips over the scar on Phil's chest. "Yes." _It took a little getting used to. I'm happy though._

 _Good to know._ Phil covered Steve's hand with his own. "We'll work on the distance problem."

Steve eased Phil over onto his back. "Later. A lot later."

Phil smiled as Steve started to explore his body. "Yeah." He cupped the back of Steve's head. "You aren't going to hurt me." He could feel Steve's worry about his strength.

With a kiss to Phil's neck, Steve shifted so he was kneeling between Phil's legs. "I'll be careful."

They moved together, hesitant and painstakingly gentle. Steve could feel Phil's awe and love and tried to make sure he was making Phil feel good. He pushed back his own anxiety and started to lick at Phil's shaft when Phil's hand tugged on Steve's hair.

"Stop, hey, Steve. Stop, stop."

Steve let Phil's hand pull him back. "Did I do something wrong?"

Phil drew him up until they were laying next to each other. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. You don't have to do things just to make me feel good."

Steve touched the top edge of Phil's chest scar. "I want you to be happy."

"Not if it means hurting yourself." Phil eased Steve forward until his forehead was nestled in the crock of Phil's neck. "You were pulling yourself apart on the inside."

Steve took a moment to just breathe. "I know I'm not as modern..."

"That wasn't your problem. You were replaying taunts from the past in your head." Phil stroked down Steve's back. "It felt involuntary. Like a trigger."

"I didn't..." Steve eased back a little. "Like a trigger?"

"Hmm." Phil kept stroking Steve's back as he thought clearly about what he meant by triggers.

"Oh." Steve mimicked Phil's touching. "Yeah."

"You aren't any of those things you were called." Phil reached between them and took both of their cocks in his hand.

Steve pulled Phil closer using his hands on Phil's asscheeks. "I...know."

Phil smiled and started to stroke them. Soon there was no clear thoughts coming from Steve as he clutched Phil tighter. Phil sped up his strokes and reveled in the feedback loop of feelings they had going between them.

Steve moaned and his hips stuttered as he came. Phil could feel the trembling running through Steve's body as Phil shifted his hand to the heads of their cocks. Steve molded himself to Phil as Phil rubbed hard at them until he orgamsed.

****

Steve gently cleaned the mess off Phil's lower belly as he snored faintly. He could feel Phil's contentment fading into the jumble of dream feelings. Steve padded back into the bathroom with the wet washcloth and the towel he'd used to clean them up.

He washed his hands and looked at himself in the mirror as he listened to Phil's feelings become fuzzier as he slipped further into sleep. 

Steve smiled to himself. "Soulmates." He slid back into bed beside Phil and curled around him. Loki might have forced this on them, but Steve was going to make the most of it.

****


End file.
